Early works of Alberto Vargas dating from about 1915 to September 1940. There is some overlap with the "Esquire Varga Girl" images. One example is "Reflection in Mirror". This painting with the mirror removed was purposed for Esquire magazine February 1941 gatefold and was rejected because it is "too athletic and realistically muscled". Anna Mae Clift was the model and judged to be “to old”. But the same painting was used for the November 1944 gatefold. Proof that Vargas was right and Mr. Smart, the publisher of Esquire, was wrong again.OB

Calendars were published almost exclusively by specialty houses not magazine publishers. Mr Smart, the publisher of Esquire Magazine, decided to test the market by publishing a calendar in 1941 using his new feature artist, Alberto Vargas.

Mr Smart’s objective was to promote the new “Varga Girl” and test their popularity. The gatefold was replaced in the December 1940 issue of Esquire magazine with the 1941 calendar, it was also offered for sale by mail order. The “New Yorker” magazine took note of the “Varga” pin-ups and in part said (Vargas) "could make a girl look nude if she were rolled up in a rug". Kind of a backhanded complement coming from the “New Yorker”. A better measure of success was for 25 cents each, Esquire sold 320,000 calendars.

It’s estimated that Esquire sold a total of 2,000,000 Varga calendars in seven years. For Mr Smart this was all profit, Vargas was only paid his normal salary and Mr smart laughed all the way to the bank.

Note: The images of the “Esquire Varga Girls” posted below are small likenesses of Alberto Vargas paintings. They do not have the detail of the original paintings or the correct coloring. Having never seen a Vargas painting, an Esquire magazine “Varga Girl” or any of the poster reproductions there is no way to accurately represent Vargas work. The coloring is only a best guess and what looks good, if they closely match the original Vargas painting it’s dumb luck, nothing more. OB

Gatefold: a page larger than the others in a magazine or book, bound so it can be unfolded and opened out like a gate. Well that’s a dictionary definition, but the reality was a little different.

"Esquire’s" gatefolds for the most part used only two pages, unlike "Playboy’s" centerfold that uses all three pages of the gatefold. The benefit of "Esquire’s" approach is no staples holes in the picture only a page fold. Original "Varga Gatefolds" are approximately 14 inches high by 18 1/2 inches wide (36cm x 47cm) and have a vertical fold line in the center. One of the exceptions is January 1946, four pages of a five page gatefold, three fold lines and size approximately 14 by 36 inches.

"Esquire" lead it’s rival publications in sales with the “Petty Girls”. Mr Smart, the publisher of "Esquire" magazine, had his problems with George Pretty and decided it was time for a change. By changing his feature artist Mr. Smart could try someone new and maybe get Petty back on better terms at a later date. The problem was, George Pretty didn’t care if he ever went back to "Esquire" and the new feature artist was a steal, Alberto Vargas.

Volumes have been written on the contract that Alberto Vargas signed with Mr Smart. The shot version (in my opinion) is Vargas got screwed by Mr Smart. The lesson is, if you don’t understand what you are to sign, DON”T.

"Esquire" magazine sales increased at a faster rate when the “Varga Girl” replaced the “Petty Girl”. Fourteen months later the United States entered WWII and Esquire’s target audience started to shrink. Out of patriotism or an eye to future buyers after the war, Mr Smart published a free military version of "Esquire" magazine that was distributed to military personal stateside and overseas. As a result "Esquire" magazine had a much wider exposure than could have ever been dreamed of before the war and in every issue was the “Varga Girl”.

With the war over GI’s were coming home and life was returning to normal, but for Alberto Vargas the situation was becoming intolerable. He had signed a new contract that he never read and it had become clear that Mr Smart’s only interest was getting as many paintings from Vargas as he could at the least cost. Vargas’ association with Esquire ended in January 1946.

Note: The images of the “Esquire Varga Girls” posted below are small likenesses of Alberto Vargas paintings. They do not have the detail of the original paintings or the correct coloring. Having never seen a Vargas painting, an Esquire magazine “Varga Girl” or any of the poster reproductions there is no way to accurately represent Vargas work. The coloring is only a best guess and what looks good, if they closely match the original Vargas painting it’s dumb luck, nothing more. OB

From the beginning of 1942 until the end of WWII "Esquire" magazine printed a military version. The advertising was removed and distributed free to the military state side and overseas. March 1944 "Esquire" added a new unpublished "Varga Girl" to the back cover, this continued until the war's ended and the military version was discontinued. An estimated 9 million copies of the Military Esquire were printed.

Note: The images of the “Esquire Varga Girls” posted below are small likenesses of Alberto Vargas paintings. They do not have the detail of the original paintings or the correct coloring. Having never seen a Vargas painting, an Esquire magazine “Varga Girl” or any of the poster reproductions there is no way to accurately represent Vargas work. The coloring is only a best guess and what looks good, if they closely match the original Vargas painting it’s dumb luck, nothing more. OB

Instead of building a new computer to replace my seven year old desktop I opted to buy a top-of-the-line laptop. With the new laptop comes Window 8 and the ugly useless start tiles. Some freeware and a little tweaking, you are left with a dull and drab desktop. Fortunately I had collected interesting images for years that could be used as wallpaper.

After using the laptop for several weeks it dawned on me that I could be using some of my pin-up collection for wallpaper as I had for my iPad. Below are large “Varga Girl” pin-up images for use as computer wallpaper.

The first four images in this album are for iPad’s. iPad 1&2 and the Mini use 1024 by 1024 pixel images for wallpaper and the lock screen. iPad 3&4 use 2048 by 2048 pixel images.

OB

Update 30/01/2015: Built a new decktop computer late last year, the nine year old machine died. Love the new computer with a high-definition (HD) 24 inch monitor. All that real estate requires new HD wallpaper, 1920 by 1080 pixels. Enjoy the wallpaper.

Born Easter Sunday April 21 1889 John Scott Armstrong in Bay City Michigan. At seventeen he enrolled at the School of Art Institute of Chicago as Jack Scott Armstrong. You can speculate that Jack and Rolf were his nick names growing up and he settling on Rolf as the one he liked best. To supplement his income he taught boxing, baseball and art.

Formal education continued in New York in 1911 at the Henri School of Art and his first painting was published as the cover of “Judge” magazine in 1912. New York was the right place and time for an aspiring artist. Modern (practical) Color photography was decades in the future, the movie industry was booming along with the number of actors and the magazine publishers were adding color to enhance their competitiveness. Armstrong’s beautiful and glamorous paintings filled the need along with other artists.

After several years of success in New York Rolf planed to continue his education in Pairs. The day he was to board a ship to Europe WW I started, he canceled his trip. All was not lost, he setup in a new more upscale apartment and went back to work.

During the war Rolf was a member of the “Mayor’s Committee on National Defense” and produced several recruiting posters along with his commercial work. By wars end he had become a popular and successful artist in New York. In 1919 he signed a two year contract to create the covers for “Photoplay” magazine, this gave Rolf Armstrong national exposure and secured his success.